Parish Priest - Read Jim Fulner

Paperback, 272 pages

English language

Published March 13, 2007 by Harper Perennial.

ISBN:: 978-0-06-077685-5
OCLC Number:: 138014747

"Father McGivney's vision remains as relevant as ever in the changed circumstances of today's church and society." -- Pope John Paul II Is now the time for an American parish priest to be declared a Catholic saint?In Father Michael McGivney (1852-1890), born and raised in a Connecticut factory town, the modern era's ideal of the priesthood hit its zenith. The son of Irish immigrants, he was a man to whom "family values" represented more than mere rhetoric. And he left a legacy of hope still celebrated around the world.In the late 1800s, discrimination against American Catholics was widespread. Many Catholics struggled to find work and ended up in infernolike mills. An injury or the death of the wage earner would leave a family penniless. The grim threat of chronic homelessness and even starvation could fast become realities. Called to action in 1882 by his sympathy for these suffering people, Father …

"Father McGivney's vision remains as relevant as ever in the changed circumstances of today's church and society." -- Pope John Paul II Is now the time for an American parish priest to be declared a Catholic saint?In Father Michael McGivney (1852-1890), born and raised in a Connecticut factory town, the modern era's ideal of the priesthood hit its zenith. The son of Irish immigrants, he was a man to whom "family values" represented more than mere rhetoric. And he left a legacy of hope still celebrated around the world.In the late 1800s, discrimination against American Catholics was widespread. Many Catholics struggled to find work and ended up in infernolike mills. An injury or the death of the wage earner would leave a family penniless. The grim threat of chronic homelessness and even starvation could fast become realities. Called to action in 1882 by his sympathy for these suffering people, Father McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus, an organization that has helped to save countless families from the indignity of destitution. From its uncertain beginnings, when Father McGivney was the only person willing to work toward its success, it has grown to an international membership of 1.7 million men.At heart, though, Father McGivney was never anything more than an American parish priest, and nothing less than that, either -- beloved by children, trusted by young adults, and regarded as a "positive saint" by the elderly in his New Haven parish.In an incredible work of academic research, Douglas Brinkley (The Boys of Pointe Du Hoc, Tour of Duty) and Julie M. Fenster (Race of the Century, Ether Day) re-create the life of Father McGivney, a fiercely dynamic yet tenderhearted man. Though he was only thirty-eight when he died, Father McGivney has never been forgotten. He remains a true "people's priest," a genuinely holy man -- and perhaps the most beloved parish priest in U.S. history. Moving and inspirational, Parish Priest chronicles the process of canonization that may well make Father McGivney the first American-born parish priest to be declared a saint by the Vatican.

2 editions

JIm FUlner reviewed Parish Priest by Douglas Brinkley

4 stars

A good book that I think did well to try to be fair and balanced look at who may be the first Parish Priest to become a Saint. returnreturnI see the struggle of American Catholics, that was somewhat different from what I pictured from articles in the Columbia magazine. returnreturnIt interesting to see how fraternal organizations as a whole were so popular in the late 19th century, and its amazing that one so unloved then as the K of C has been one to survive. returnreturnI liked reading of the "Total Abstance" societies and the ideas that youngsters going somewhere unsupervised was a totally calcimining in a city as big as New Haven in the 1880s. returnreturnYet what I took away most from this writing was that we aren't doing that bad. I learn the K of C almost collapsed during its first year to to infighting, I'm no so …

A good book that I think did well to try to be fair and balanced look at who may be the first Parish Priest to become a Saint. returnreturnI see the struggle of American Catholics, that was somewhat different from what I pictured from articles in the Columbia magazine. returnreturnIt interesting to see how fraternal organizations as a whole were so popular in the late 19th century, and its amazing that one so unloved then as the K of C has been one to survive. returnreturnI liked reading of the "Total Abstance" societies and the ideas that youngsters going somewhere unsupervised was a totally calcimining in a city as big as New Haven in the 1880s. returnreturnYet what I took away most from this writing was that we aren't doing that bad. I learn the K of C almost collapsed during its first year to to infighting, I'm no so worried that Greg thinks we all need to be doing things his way. The Knights of Columbus provided a place for the Catholic man to be able to have some fun and make a difference, without having to give up Alcohol 100%. It left us a way to provide for our children that was needed then, and not overly difficult now. I find the hall council to be more in line than the Parish council, and Father McGivney a man after my own heart. I can't imagine passing away at the ripe old age of 38 not being uncommon for his line of work in that day, now if our priest is under 40 half the parishioners fail to listen to him. returnreturnBlessed Michael McGivney, pray for us. And thank you for a fraternal organization where I belong, and a book that wasn't as exciting as it could have been, but may have been as exciting as you'd let it be :-)

Subjects

Religious Congregations And Orders
Roman Catholic Church
Biography & Autobiography
Biography / Autobiography
Biography/Autobiography
Religious
Biography & Autobiography / Religious